Community Care

by Elizabeth Campbell, MS, LPC, RPT-S

“The truth of who we are, is that we are, because we belong. It’s in our DNA.” — Desmond Tutu

One of the most relaxed and oxytocin-filled times that I recall is waking up on my rope cot in my host family’s home in Ganeshpur, Nepal.  It was a chilly morning, I was curled up in my sleeping bag, and I heard the soft raspy voice of my host mother talking in the next room and engaging in her morning chores.  It was my first international service trip and first time staying with a host family.  I was amazed that I felt so connected to a family and a community that I could not easily communicate with.  The deep relationship that we formed through working towards a mutual goal:  building a school for the community, and caring for another in the process, was life-changing.  

The communal nature of Nepal’s culture and all of the rural communities I stayed in while doing international service work stands in stark contrast to our culture.  Families lived in adjoining homes or on the same property and shared chores and childcare.  Friends and family members were together throughout the day and no one was left with the isolation of a never ending to do list with no support.  Parents learned by example by seeing generation after generation raising children.  There is an oft repeated joke among parents when people say “It takes a village (to raise a child),” “How do I sign up?!”  

Unfortunately, for many in our culture, the village is not there.  Whether that is due to living far away from family members, cutting off toxic relationships, or loss, often modern American individuals are often isolated and overwhelmed.  We saw in the pandemic how isolation can breed stress and subsequent mental health and wellbeing challenges and the Surgeon General recently release research showing that it impacts physical and mental health.  Yet our society continues to value independence, which cuts us off from the benefits of interdependence.  

All of that being said, I am not ready to sign up for communal living.  I love spending time with others and then going home to have quiet time to recharge my Highly Sensitive, introverted batteries.  I say all of this to highlight the gift that interdependence brings.  I often see this gift in The Resiliency Center practitioner community.  The same wise clinicians that supported me when I began my practice are supporting me as I support supervisees to learn and grow.  I see this gift in my friendships.  I recommended to my neighbor the book Sensitive and she loaned me Hunt, Gather, Parent (a must read when thinking about community).  We so often think about self-care as taking bubble baths and doing yoga, which is lovely.  I encourage us all to also care for ourselves by filling up both ourselves and others in connection and support.  

Elizabeth Campbell is a Licensed Profession Counselor, Registered Play Therapist Supervisor, and EMDR Consultant in Training who provides empowerment and strength-based support to individuals in personal growth and change.  She specializes in play therapy with children, supporting Highly Sensitivity, and IFS-informed EMDR for all ages. She provides supervision and consultation for licensure as well as EMDR and play therapy certification.   If you would like to connect with Elizabeth, reach out at elizabeth@elizabethcampbellcounseling.com or 610-757-8163 or learn more at www.elizabethcampbellcounseling.com

Nicaragua – Unplugged and Recharged

By Elizabeth Campbell

In February 2013, I traveled as the counseling support for the Yoga Teacher Training Beyond Asana to build a school with the organization Build On in Ganeshpur, Nepal.  My experience deepened my presence in my counseling practice and in other relationships greatly.  This year we traveled to two villages in the mountains of Nicaragua to build schools in San Benito and Las Cuarentas.  The lesson this year was layered onto my experience of last year.  Not only is it possible to communicate with individuals that do not speak our language, but the depth of that very connection is what sustains us all…no matter what language, nationality, or socioeconomic status defines us. 

Two weeks in rural Nicaragua freed up space for me.  There was no electricity, no television, no cell phones, and no running water.  The absence of those luxuries gave me a greater gift…the space to connect.   When we ate meals, no one was taking pictures of the meal to post on Facebook or excusing themselves for a phone call.  The television did not distract us from interacting.  At night, there was nothing to do but engage with one another.  We simply connected.  And joining with the beautiful souls of San Benito and Las Cuarentas completely sustained me, regardless of what luxuries were missing. 

How does one carry that connection back into an area that has traffic, cell phones, television, and any other number of distractions?  The Filial child-parent relationship training that I hold concurrently with play therapy sessions encourages parents to “focus on the donut, not the hole.”  In other words, your relationship with your child is more important than any issue or problem occurring.  Nicaragua taught me that any relationship is more important.  It is more important to look into your loved one’s eyes rather than stare at a television screen, more important to call a friend than to text, more important to enjoy the experience of a delicious dinner than to tell people in social networking about it.  In our attempt to speed up our efficiency and our connection with others, we have efficiently disconnected.  I am carrying the beauty of my experience connecting with those in Nicaragua by connecting with those that I encounter here.  And I would love for this to ripple to others and the beauty of Nicaragua could cause connections upon connections in our community.  Along this line, I call all readers and community members of the Resiliency Center to action.  How can you connect today?

Danibad, Ganeshpur (Thank you, Ganeshpur)

By Elizabeth Campbell

              On February 1st, I embarked on a 4 day journey that took me from Philadelphia to New York, New York to Doha, Qatar, Doha to Kathmandu, Nepal, Kathmandu to Dunghadee, and Dunghadee to Ganeshpur.  This journey included several vans and airplanes, as well as some walking once our final bus became stuck in the mud. This walk was accompanied by 3 drum players, 1 horn, multiple dancers, and an entire village.  I traveled with Beyond Asana, a yoga teacher training, as their counseling support on this service trip.  We fundraised thousands of dollars for Build On, an organization that promotes local and global education.  This fundraising resulted in 4 days of travel to break ground for the school being built in Ganeshpur, a rural village in Northwest Nepal.  It also transformed my perspective of the world and taught me true presence in communication.

             
              Nepal is dichotomous.  There are outstanding mountains and sacred sites, paired with extreme pollution and Third World living conditions.  The power rotates on and off every 6 hours.  Stray dogs run wild.  Toilets are a hole in the ground that flushes (if you are lucky).  The most disparate experience I had in Kathmandu was at Pashupatinath Temple, a temple to the Hindu God Shiva.  It is on the Bagmati River, which is considered the holiest of rivers.  Cremations occur on the banks of this river while hundreds watch.  It is an honor to have your loved one’s funeral there.  The river is clogged with pollution and stray monkeys and dogs feed on this despite funeral proceedings occurring all around.  Holy men painted white and orange meditate perched on sides of temples next to the homeless curled up, sleeping.  The beauty and the poverty intersect one another sharply.

                The dichotomy that I experienced in the village of Ganeshpur reinforced every counseling skill that I have acquired over the years.  We were able to verbally communicate very little with the inhabitants of Ganeshpur.  We had a small book of Tharu, the caste living in the village, expressions and our own creativity to work with.  Despite all of these limitations, I felt intense love from the people of Ganeshpur.  I have never been welcomed and acknowledged in such a manner before.  We were processed into the village and were then welcomed with singing, dancing, and speeches.  Two days later we had a farewell ceremony with even more speeches, dancing, and singing.  The next morning, we were processed out of the village in the same manner that we entered.  The entire village surrounded our bus to send us off.  We received tika, a ground red spice used to honor someone by anointing their forehead, and marigold necklaces 4 times in 4 days.  Our host families had so little to give, but showered us with bracelets and woven baskets.  Content was sparse in our conversations, but the relationship was there.  Our nonverbal communication was sufficient to express the connection, love, and grace that this school melded between us. 

                My travel to Nepal left me with the knowledge that the poorest of US Citizens live extravagantly compared to Third World countries.  Middle class individuals like you and I have more material possessions and luxuries than the villagers of Ganeshpur will ever imagine.   Conversely, the Nepali people are wealthy far beyond what Westerners conceive.  I am honored to have learned how to communicate unconditional love with nothing but a smile, the warmth of my eyes, and intention of my actions. 


                Elizabeth is a Licensed Professional Counselor at The Resiliency Center.  In her practice, she takes a strength-based and empowerment approach to serve children, families, and couples.  She specializes in trauma-informed and specific treatments, family therapy, play therapy, and creative counseling for adolescents.  Elizabeth combines her passions for yoga, service, and counseling through workshops that fuse yoga and emotional healing, the work with Build On described in this article, and with Yoga In Action.  YIA is a group created by Off the Mat and Into the World, a charity that promotes the yogic principle of seva, or service, by moving through the energy systems of the body to enable individuals to better help others by freeing themselves.  For more information, please contact Elizabeth via phone at 610-757-8163 or email at elizabethannecampbell@yahoo.com.